3.07.2016

'Breathin': The Eddie Zheng Story' is a portrait of redemption

Screens Friday, March 11 at CAAMFest 2016.

A man journeys to freedom, rehabilitation and redemption in the feature documentary Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story which makes its world premiere this week at CAAMFest 2016. Directed by Ben Wang, Breathin' is an intimate, resilient portrait of activist Eddie Zheng and his decades-long struggle for new life.

Arrested at 16 and tried as an adult for kidnapping and robbery, Eddy Zheng served over 20 years in state prison. Ben Wang’s BREATHIN’: THE EDDY ZHENG STORY paints an intimate portrait of Eddy — the prisoner, the immigrant, the son, the activist — on his journey to freedom, rehabilitation and redemption.

BREATHIN’ moves with a deep, critical love, unafraid in confronting the hard truths of Eddy’s crime, the harsh realities of mass incarceration and the intertwined emotional hardships experienced by all involved. The film finds Eddy at many crossroads — in and out of parole hearings, organizing in the community, othered and at risk of deportation — his resilience and astounding compassion resounding throughout. In chronicling Eddy’s decades-long struggle for freedom, the film interrogates the complexities and hypocrisies of crime and punishment in the United States, raising the greater question: For whom are prisons for?

Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story screens Friday, March 11 at 6:30PM at the Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco. This website is a proud sponsor of this film and CAAMFest 2016, running March 10-20. For further details, including the full schedule, program descriptions and ticket and venue info, visit the festival website.